"Are you serious?"
"I am."
"Are you in any way stoned?"
"Spike."
"I'm just asking."
Buffy turns towards the rest of the group and says, "So, this is the plan. For once we're gonna play by the prophecy's rules."
"Um, Buffy? It's not that I don't have faith in Spike… because I do… but how is he going to fight Trista? Her strength even before she became a vampire was, hey, slayer-y," says Willow.
"Which is why we have you, Will. I think it's time we got back to our roots."
"Oh! Troll hammer?" inquires Spike.
"Not exactly," says Buffy.
"Is this gonna involve magic? Because I'm all about getting rootsy as long as we're not talking about my roots. Those roots are bad. Like the crazy uncle you never invite to the family reunions," says Willow, a bit anxious.
Buffy just smiles at her and turns towards the kitchen, calling over her shoulder, "We'll set up the war room in here."
Spike sighs to himself, "Then we'll go to war." He moves down the hall towards Trista's room. He sits on the edge of the bed, rubbing his eyes. He looks up to see Chloe standing in the doorway.
"Hey," she says tentatively. He just looks at her. She sighs and sits next to him on the bed before she says, "You nervous?"
He looks down at the floor and, after a long moment, says quietly, "I became a vampire over a hundred bleeding years ago but… I'm still me. I still-- that whole thing about vampires being completely different from the humans they came from is a lie. Before I died, I loved my mum, and after, I still did. What if-- what if I fight her and I win and I kill her? I kill Trista," he looks up at her lost and even afraid, "What if a part of her is still in there? I might damn her to hell without her even having a say in it."
Chloe shakes her head and says slowly, sadly, "Trista's gone. She's gone and nothing can bring her back."
Trista's crying and having fits on the floor of her room as Augustus runs to her. With tears flowing down her eyes, she screams insanely, "Dead! Dead! They're all dead and I did it. How could I do this? My heart! My heart!" She looks at the mirror and screams more and falls back, crying even more. Augustus looks over to see Trista's reflection in the mirror as it convulses and cries with its doppelganger.
"Holy…"
"Holy! God's going to smite me all the good little girls go to heaven but the bad ones get spankings bad harsh eternal spankings what if he doesn't believe that I'm sorry I didn't mean it I never even ran over an animal when driving I didn't step on the bugs they stepped on me my flesh is crawling why am I-- WHY! Why am I--"
Suddenly, Trista's quiet, staring placidly at the ceiling. Augustus looks at the mirror again but sees that nothing is there. He approaches her nervously. After a long beat and with unnatural speed, Trista grabs him by the collar and pulls him close. In full vamp face, she growls at him, "Make it stop."
"What about an enchanted sword?"
"Too risky. It might get knocked across the room or something."
"Fire ball?"
"Too flammable."
"UV ray… ball… thing?"
Buffy shakes her head and takes a seat next to Willow and says, "It'd take him with it."
"And that's a bad thing?"
They both look over to see a travel worn Xander standing in the doorway, grinning.
"Xander!" Willow yells as she and Buffy rush him.
"How… why… Xander!" says Buffy, embracing him.
"Plane… don't know… you're choking me!"
They release him some but remain close, so excited that he's there.
"Xander! You're here!" says Willow, then in a bewildered tone, "Why are you here?"
"Giles called me and, come on! It's an apocalypse. The Xand-man doesn't miss the world ending. Think about it. I'm in Africa and my friends are running around saving the world and where's the bragging rights in that? No, I gotta be present," he smiles at them and indicates them as he says, "See the dynamic? There's a dynamic here! The world can't be saved dynamic-less."
Buffy smiles at him and says, "That's a very compelling argument."
"I practiced in the elevator," he says before switching gears, "So, who what when where why and how?"
"Well," Buffy begins, "Spike's fighting a slayervamp, soon, don't know, did I mention slayervamp?"
"And we haven't the slightest idea how he's supposed to kill her and not die again," finishes Willow.
"Once again, and that's a bad thing? Wait, the slayervamp, it's not…"
"Trista," says Willow, "Her name's Trista."
This affects Xander slightly.
"You knew her?" asks Buffy.
"I met her once when she was with Giles. We talked a while," says Xander sadly, "I liked her. She was good people."
"Yeah," says Willow sympathetically.
They all sit on the sofa by the coffee table.
Buffy says, "So, how've you been?"
"Horrible. I'm frickin' horrible! I keep having these chest pains and things are circulating and AHHHH," in a fit of anger she flings her fist into a bookshelf so hard that it goes through it. The shopkeeper looks to Augustus who just shrugs. The keeper then looks at Trista, a bit afraid. She attempts to appease her, "Now just calm down--"
"Calm down? Calm down! I'm supposed to be preparing for a massacre, damn it! I don't have time for this crap!" she kicks the counter behind her, causing it to shake violently. She grabs her head and starts to fidget, also violently. Her fingers tangle in her hair and she says, "I feel like my skin is crawling. I don't know what to do. What do I do?"
She looks up to see that the keeper is already searching through an old tome. She marks a page and spins it towards Trista. "Go there. It'll make you all good again."
Trista reads the page. The ritual, the ingredients, the words… it all seems legitimate. Trista asks, "This'll work?" The shopkeeper smiles confidently, "Oh, it'll work."
As Trista reads, she shudders a little and says, "Okay."
The living room erupts with the laughter of Buffy and Willow as Xander tells a story of his adventures in Africa. The girls are nearly are nearly crying, they're laughing so hard.
"And then, I swear to god, the poor kid was up the tree for an hour."
"Just like that?" asks Buffy jokingly.
"Just like that."
At that moment, Spike walks into the apartment, sees Xander, and, without missing a beat, says, "Oh, Jesus," and turns around to leave.
"Spike," Buffy calls, "We need to talk about the--"
"No. We don't. Just find out where she is and I'll fight. Alright?"
"Spike," attempts Xander.
"Piss off," Spike retorts before heading towards his usual room.
"He's just a ray of bastardness tonight, isn't he?" observes Xander.
"He does seem a bit snippier than usual," adds Willow.
Faith comes in with a very pale Chloe. It's obvious she's not adjusting well. Faith sees Xander and half smiles, "Xander."
"Faith."
"Chloe, this is Xander," says Willow, "He's a friend."
"Oh," she says quietly and sits in a chair.
There's a long beat of silence… a really long beat.
"Um. What are we talking about?" asks Willow.
Beat.
"Kid in a tree?" tries Xander.
"Wait. Spike not dying. Let's go back to that," says Buffy.
"Enchanted… UV Ball… thing… with enchanted shield…of UV ball blocking… thing…?" asks Willow. They look at her like she's really loosing it. She looks back at them, "What? At least I'm trying. Xander's been here for like an hour and he hasn't had one idea."
"I was busy with the story and the tree and the thing! I would've offered one of my many great ideas if asked," he says.
They all look at him. He shakes his head.
"I've got nothing. We all know I've got nothing, so let's not even pretend."
"Why don't you just make him stronger?" tries Chloe.
There's a silence and shocked looks. Why didn't they think of that?
"It's just a basic strength spell. Should be pretty easy to do. He'll, uh, well, he'll get the strength of, like--"
"A Trista?" finishes Buffy, following up Willow's explanation.
"Exactly."
"Xander?" asks Buffy.
"Yeah?" he says, standing up.
"Feel like a field trip?"
"As always."
He grabs his coat and follows Buffy out.
Trista sits in the back her freshly stolen car as Augustus drives. Sitting to her left is the shopkeeper, chanting over a bowl with smoke coming out of it.
"And with the blood of the One, the spell shall pass."
Trista rolls her eyes, "Right. Because that's not lame." She takes a dagger and slices her hand, and turns it so the blood drips into the bowl. The gray smoke turns red, and the keeper smiles. She says, "It is done."
Trista looks to her, suddenly interested, "Yeah?"
"Yes. Do you remember what to do?"
Trista nods, looking at the bowl. She asks, "Are you sure it's done?"
The shopkeeper just smiles.
On the street, the car barrels down the slick road as, without even slowing, the Shopkeeper's lifeless body is flung out of the car. Trista's voice rings out in the night as she calls, "Thanks!"
Back at the nest, Trista's vamps gather and speculate where she went. Before they can get a decent bet going, they look up to see Buffy leaning in the doorway, Xander close behind. Buffy smiles casually at them, twiddling a stake in her hands.
"Who're you?"
Buffy smiles wider and says, "You'll find out."
"She's the Slayer. The One. The One before the… other ones. Capital 'S', rhymes with 'best' and that's what she is," says Xander excitedly.
He'd go on but Buffy says, "I was kind of going for a more 'live and learn' type of thing, Xand."
"Sorry," he says sheepishly. He looks to the vamps and explains, "I've been out of commission for a while."
"Now, we can either have a civilized conversation or we could fight."
She barely has time to get out the last word before the 6 vamps start to rush her.
She shrugs, "'Kay."
She heads off the first with a swift kick in the stomach and wraps around to crescent moon kick a second, sending him careening into a third. She and the vamps go at it. Xander jumps right on in, getting in a good punch. One goes to slam him with a chair, and he lets out what he'll later recall as a "manly yelp". Buffy quickly gains the upper hand and dusts Vamp1, spins around and dusts Vamps2&3 in one swift motion. Xander dusts Vamp4, obviously without slayer ease, but he gets it done. He always does.
"Buffy!" he yells, drawing attention to Vamps5&6 as they try to escape. Buffy flings her stake across the room, hitting Vamp5 in the heart. She then picks up an end table and hurls in at Vamp6, causing him to fall onto the ground.
Xander screams a battle cry and goes to stake 6 but Buffy screams, "Xander! No! I want that one!"
He stops, looks up sheepishly, "Oh. Okay. Sorry."
Buffy walks up and grabs Vamp6 and says, "Ready for that conversation?"
She hurls him across the room and picks him up by his collar and slams him against a wall.
"You'll never--" begins the vamp but, lacking patience, Buffy slams him against the wall again to shut him up.
"I'm really pressed for time and I have this thing I need to get to, so here's how it's gonna work. You're gonna tell me where Trista is--"
"Or what? You'll kill me?"
"Well, see I'm gonna kill you whether you tell me or not but your answer, the correct one I may add, will keep it from taking too long."
The vamp starts laughing, "You think you can intimidate me? You come in here with your fancy spin kicks and your flippy hair and you think I'm just going to fall to my knees?"
Buffy cracks him in the knee with her foot, causing him to fall, well, onto his knees. Xander looks at him and says, "Apparently so."
Spike walks into a room and sits with Trista. He doesn't know where he is or what the room looks like. It doesn't matter. He can only see Trista's face, smiling at him. Right now, it's the only thing he knows. It feels like they've been here for hours, sitting, talking.
"Do you think Sid killed Nancy?"
"I think she had it coming," answers Spike.
"Do I have it coming?"
There's silence. Spike can't answer. She looks at him sweetly.
"You're a good man."
"How would you know?"
"Because I like you."
Spike shakes his head and sighs, "You don't even really know me."
Trista smiles knowingly at him and says, "Let me tell you a story. Once there was this poet. He was so-- he was just horrible at poetry. Absolutely, painfully horrible. I mean, they never should've allowed this guy to have a quill. It was that bad. Well, he happened to be hopelessly in love with a girl. He proclaimed said love in a poem. The poem? It was a bit less than effulgent. There was cringing and it was bad but he knew that it would be that way. He told the girl he loved-- he told her that they were just words. He knew that he was a bad poet, but he also knew he was a good man." She pauses and looks into his eyes. She shifts gears, no longer telling the story, "You forget the rhyming scheme sometimes and get confused about what you're writing, but the feeling's still there. You're genuine and sincere and that is what makes you a good man. That's why I like you."
He looks at her perplexed. She just told him something he never told her. He asks, "How did you…?"
"I'm in your head, sweetie. You'd be surprised what I can see."
He looks at her sadly and says with a quiver in his voice, "What if I kill you?"
She smiles at him and shakes her head, "No. I'll always be here," she touches his head, "And here," she touches his heart, "And," she leans in to kiss him and barely whispers, "Here…"
They kiss sweetly and softly. It's over quickly, lacking the passion of love, the fire of one's heart, but it holds a unique quality. It holds the comfort of comradery. Of friendship.
She looks up towards the sky and says, "It'll be odd… blinking at the sun… wishing it was real."
Spike wakes up to see Faith walk up and knock once on the doorframe of the open door.
"You up?"
Spike and Faith walk out to the living room to find Buffy, Xander, Willow and Chloe waiting for them. Buffy nods to Faith but doesn't look at Spike.
"Spike. Glad you could join us," says Buffy. She turns to the group as a whole and continues, "Xander and I found Trista's nest and had a chat with one of the vamps there," she pauses, "Trista's gone. She heard about the prophecy, and she skipped town."
The group tenses.
"What?" asks Chloe, freaking out.
"Do you know where?" asks Willow.
Buffy just shakes her head.
"But we did find out something important. Pivotal, in fact. Tell em, Buff," says Xander, trying win back the team's morale.
"Our little stool pigeon overheard that the shopkeeper from that magic shop was the one protecting Trista from Willow's spells."
"So what does that mean?" asks Chloe.
"No more shop girl equals no more protection," answers Spike.
"Which equals workable locator spell. All we have to do is take the shopkeeper out of the mix," says Buffy.
"Something I can do," says Faith as she cracks her knuckles.
"You won't need to," proclaims a figure that quietly slipped in during the conversation. Everyone turns with a start to see Lorne standing by the door. He sadly smiles and says, "Hi."
At this point, Buffy steps forward and, well, punches him. Hard. Lorne falls to the ground.
"Lorne!" yells Willow, rushing to him.
"You know its name!" asks Buffy.
"Did she just call me an 'it'!" screeches Lorne lividly as Willow helps him up.
"I'm sure she didn't mean it," replies Willow, trying to appease him.
"What the hell is going on?" asks Buffy.
"This is Lorne. He was a friend of Angel's," answers Willow before she goes off to get Lorne some ice as he sits unsteadily on the sofa.
"Oh," begins Buffy, "Sorry."
"Happens all the time."
"Will, when were you in LA long enough to meet Angel's friends?" asks Buffy.
"I met him a couple years ago when I had to tell Angel you, you know, died."
"You've died before?" asks Chloe in astonishment.
"Just the once…"
"Um, Buffy…?" begins Xander. He discreetly holds up his index and middle finger, indicating two.
Buffy turns back to Chloe and says, "Okay, twice."
"Oh, Faith you look nice. Been working out?" asks Lorne.
"Not as much as I used to. What with the nonincarceration and all, less time to lift weights."
"Oh, I heard you went on trial. How'd that go?" Willow comes in with ice in a rag for him, "Oh, thank you, sugar lamb."
"One of the members of the Supreme Court's a wizard and a new friend of ours. He found out who she was and got her off," answers Willow.
"I bet he did," snorts Spike.
Faith hits Spike in the stomach before she moves to sit on the arm of the chair. Lorne looks to Spike and says disappointed, "Oh, Spikey, Spikey. Look at you! You look like the entire world's weighing you down, especially under the eyes. Have you gotten any sleep?"
"A bit too much, actually," answers Spike, thinking of his Trista dreams.
"I'm still not full of grasping what's going on," says Buffy.
Lorne stands, dusts himself off and says to Buffy, "Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan at your service, but please, please don't call me that. It's a mouthful and an all around hassle. So," he indicates himself by putting his open hand on his chest, "Lorne."
"Buffy."
"Well, I would say so! That's quite a right hook you've got there."
"Lorne's an empath demon," says Willow.
"A whonow?" asks Buffy incredulously.
"I see destiny through the almighty gift of song."
"Whoa-no. We've been down this road before. Singing and dancing equals burning and dying!" says Xander, on the defensive.
"Oh, no, sweetie beets. There's no dancing, I mean, there could be dancing if you wanted to dance. But, essentially, you just sing and I tell. That's all. Of course, my little tidbits never really worked out for poor Angelkins but--"
"Wait a minute," interrupts Xander, "Angel sang?"
"Yuh-huh."
A smirk grows on Xander's face. He tries to compose himself.
"What, uh, would you care to say what exactly he sang?"
"Well, Angelface did have a certain soft spot for Barry Manilo. Poor guy, having to get up in front of all those people and all."
Xander bursts into a fit of laughter. Everyone looks at him as he nearly hyperventilates he's laughing so hard. He has to put his hand of the back of the chair for support. Tears start to come out his eyes as he looks up to see everyone gawking at him. He gets out, "I'm sorry… it's just… Angel… singing… in public--" He bursts into another giggle fit.
"Xander," says Willow as he starts to wind down.
"Yeah?"
"Don't make fun of dead people!" she replies.
He sobers and clears his throat and in an overly manly voice says, "Sorry."
"As much fun as two stepping back down memory lane is, we should probably focus on the matter at hand," suggests Lorne, "Willow, sweetie, why don't you start setting up your locator thingamajig?"
"But Lorne--"
"Just trust me."
Willow nods and moves off.
"See, between my very dramatic entrance and when I got clocked in the ever lovin' coconut, I was planning on explaining my proclamation. I couldn't help vague-ing it up. I mean, who doesn't love a little ambiguity, right? I wasn't planning on the concussion though."
"Again with the sorry," says Buffy guiltily.
Lorne waves his hand dismissively, "Sweetie, when people hit me with only their fist I'm overjoyed by my luck. Well, any way, that shopkeeper's everyone is going on about? She's dead."
Everyone reacts with shock.
"You, you saw that in one of your vision things?" asks Xander, awed.
Lorne nods solemnly, "Yes. Well, okay. No. It was on the news."
Everyone starts and turns towards Willow's excited "Yeee!" She looks up at them, smiling wide and says, "It's working."
"How much longer?"
Augustus sighs, "A couple hours yet, Trista."
"Why the hell is it taking so long?"
"Well, it is in another state--"
"So? It's not fair, you know. The apocalypse temple was in the city. It was the uberconvenient. And besides, I'm getting hungry."
"You want me to stop?"
"No… just keep driving."
Everyone moves frantically around the apartment. Apparently it's time to saddle up. Buffy walks through the living room full on general.
"Will, you almost set?"
Willow is sitting on the floor over a smoking bowl. She looks up and smiles. Her eyes are glowing beautiful silvery white, resembling the day she did Slayer spell.
"Just about."
"Wow," says Buffy, "That's new."
Willow smiles serenely, "It comes and it goes."
Buffy moves down the hall, pausing to see Lorne, Faith and Xander picking out weapons for Spike. She continues to the back room and sees Spike himself, leaning against the wall, rubbing his forehead.
"Ready?"
"Suppose."
"Good," she turns around to leave.
"Buffy."
She stops and waits for him to speak.
"You angry at me, pet?"
She turns around and says, "What would make you think that?"
"You've barely even looked in my general direction for a while."
"Is that supposed to mean something?"
"Not to mention the tone."
"There's no tone."
"There's a tone."
"There's no tone!" she says in an angry tone.
"If there's no tone, then why are you getting angry?" asks Spike, antagonizing her.
"Just leave me alone."
She goes to leave again, but Spike follows and closes the door from behind her before she can leave. He turns to face her. He reads her expression and laughs ruefully, "Oh I see what this is."
"Oh really? Care to let me in on what this is?"
She brushes past him, further into the room. Spike follows.
"You saw me making eyes at another girl. I bet it stung."
"You have no idea what you're talking about--"
"You saw me being able to connect with someone else and, god forbid, be the least bit happy. You saw me moving on and it pissed you off."
"You're wrong--"
Spike moves in close to her. Very close.
"Look me in the eye and tell me I'm wrong."
Buffy pauses, staring him down.
"You're. Wrong."
"You're lying."
"Nope."
Spike backs off. After a long beat Buffy says, "Do you love her?"
"I knew it!"
"Just answer the question, Spike!"
"No! Alright? Are you happy now? I care about her and I miss her but no. I do not love her. I love you! Does that give you the piece of mind you're egotistical boat needs to stay afloat! I will live the rest of my life loving you, you self-centered little bitch! I swear if you just stepped off that high horse of yours for a bleeding minute, we'd all be the better for it."
"I'm sorry."
Spike stops fuming and looks at her and says in a softer tone, "No… I'm sorry. Prebattle stress and all that."
"No, it's just…"
"I didn't mean any of it..."
"I don't want you going off angry at me."
Spike can't say anything but he does offer her a slight smile. He's not angry. Buffy comes up close to him, squeezes his hand affectionately.
"Good luck."
She kisses him lightly on the cheek. This, like anything emotional that has to do with Spike makes his heart swell. He gives her hand another squeeze.
In an old warehouse in upstate New Jersey, Trista walks almost silently carrying a bottle of the concoction the shopkeeper mixed. She stops and looks around, noticing the floor. Engraved in the cement floor is a large pentagram; in the center is a hole that's smooth and round like a bowl. She walks towards the middle and starts to whisper to herself, chanting.
"…And with mine own blood may I be healed…"
She goes to uncap the bottle but stops when she hears--
"What's that do?"
She rolls her eyes and sighs, "Spike." She turns around to face him as he moves toward her. He stops about six feet from her.
"Hello, love. How've you been?"
"Seen better days. But it'll all be fine in a minute."
She turns back to the bowl but Spike appears behind her and catches her shoulder.
"Can't let you do that."
She grabs his arm, twirls him around and effortlessly flings him across the room. He lands hard. She looks at him with disdain and calls, "Kill you now, kill you later, it's all the same. Either way, this ritual is getting done."
Spike rises painfully and then launches himself at her. He tackles her and, as they fall, the bottle rolls across the room. Trista looks at the retreating bottle and now she's pissed. She kicks Spike off of her causing him to fall heavily onto the ground.
"Okay, then. Kill you now."
As she advances on Spike, he pulls out a flask. She watches him as he unscrews the flask.
"What the…"
"Bottoms up," says Spike quietly and downs the flask. His jaw sets as his body starts to shake with pain. His muscles strain with a newfound strength. He locks eyes with her. She shrugs off her curiosity and goes to kick him. He catches her foot. She looks at him stunned, and, without a word, he pushes her foot causing her to fly into a crate. She gets up angrily. Getting what's going on she says, "So, they pump you up and send you into the lion's den with a magic trick up your sleeve? Like that's gonna be enough."
Spike rises and says, "It'll get it done."
After a slight pause, they attack. Trista swings but Spike rears back, causing her to miss. They're moving like wild fire hitting and blocking. He swings, she blocks, she swings, he blocks, she cracks him in the knee, he falls but turns the fall into a leg sweep, she jumps over his leg avoiding the fall, in the air, with supernatural speed, she kicks him in the face, he falls back from the hit, but in the same fluid motion, jumps up, landing on his feet, he swings at her punching her hard in the jaw, she recovers quickly and roundhouse kicks him, he catches her leg causing her to spin horizontally, she falls onto the ground but does a backwards somersault and is back up in an instant, he grabs her and knees her in the ribs, knocking the wind out of her, she recovers and backhands him, he punches, she punches, he crescent moon kicks her in the face and punches, they end up moving back close to a wall, she jumps onto the wall and uses the momentum to spin around and hit Spike hard, she grabs his arm and locks it, she spins him and makes him fly over the conveyor belt and hit the adjacent wall hard.
"What is this, Spike?"
She advances on him, antagonizing him, hating him.
"Trying to save the world? Or is it the girl? Are you trying to save me, Spike?"
She walks to the belt, rips it from the ground and throws it aside.
"Come on! This has 'pretentious bollocks' written all over it!"
He rises to attack but she stops him with five sharp jabs to the face causing him to fall back but not onto the ground. He's bleeding.
"Or, wait, maybe you're here to kill me."
She hits him again and again. He moves back again, loosing his momentum. She backhands him, hard. He falls to the ground. Trista turns away and scoops up the bottle. She moves back to the center of the pentagram.
"I'd bet anything you'd probably chalk this up to another ridiculous redemption slash humanity mission for the big ol' goblet of Fresca."
"Mountain Dew…" says Spike quietly.
Trista turns and says, "What's that, sweetie?"
Spike looks up at her with a fire in his eyes that she's never seen. He says with venom in his words, "It was Mountain Dew."
He launches himself at her again. He hits her quickly and sharply three times and grabs the bottle from her hand and flings it across the room. It hits the wall and shatters. Trista sees this and screams in despair, "NO!"
Before she can blink, Spike's on her, he hits her again and again absolutely pummeling her. He grabs her by the back of her head and throws her down onto the ground, from Spike's force, she rolls across the floor, stopping in a daze. Spike punches a crate and grabs a shard of jagged wood. He stands over her. He rears back, about to stake her, but stops dead. He looks in her eyes and sees her fear, her humanity. And, even more, he feels her--
bumpbumpbumpbumpbumpbumpbumpbumpbumpbumpbumpbumpbumpbump
--rapid heart beat.
On a cold New York night, Trista walks down the street alone. She's worried about the Apocalypse, she's worried about Avachius but, mostly, she's worried about Spike. She walks down the street thinking of the vision she just saw, his painful, lonely death.
She reaches her destination, an old bookstore. She goes in and makes a beeline for the back. She reaches the back room and walks in to find a beautiful man of about forty. He has shaggy brown hair and piercing green eyes. He looks at her but makes no attempt to rise.
"Can I help you?"
"That's what I've been told. I hear you do spells."
"You heard right."
"You're a vampire?"
"I am."
"I need to be one too."
"Then why do you need me?"
"Because I was told you could do a spell that brings about immortality through vampirism without losing your soul."
Spike
drops his stake and falls to his knees by her. She's crying and
saying, "Dead, dead, dead--"
"No. No, love, you're not dead.
You're not."
He takes her up into his arms and she looks at him
with recognition.
"Spike?"
"Yeah. Yeah, pet. It's
me."
"He lied to me. He lied! I didn't know, I swear," she
frantically pleads, clawing at Spike weakly.
"What? Who lied to
you?"
"He said I wouldn't loose my soul."
"Love, when a
vampire bites you, it's a given that you'd--"
"But I wouldn't
let him bite me! It was a spell! It was a
spell!"
The man anoints Trista with
ceremonial oils, as sage burns and he chants.
"Now, there'll be
a slight hallucination of a traditional vampire bite but other than
that the side effects are minimal."
Trista nods at him
nervously.
"You ready?"
Trista thinks of Spike, of all he
means to her.
"I am."
"You have
to believe me! I didn't mean it. I just didn't want you to die
alone."
"What…?"
"She showed me! She showed me you
dying. It was horrible. I couldn't let it happen. But she was lying
too! She just wanted me to die. So I could kill people."
"God…"
Spike trails off, overcome by his own emotions. He holds her close
and says, "But it's alright. You're alright now."
Trista
pulls away from him to make eye contact. She cries frantically, "No!
It doesn't last. It never lasts!"
"It's okay--"
"And
the prophecy! I didn't know. I don't want to hurt any more people,
Spike. I don't! If you let me go, I'll just keep killing!"
"No.
Listen, Trista…"
Trista stops listening. She looks to the door
off the warehouse, the sun came up and sunlight is shining through
the slightly ajar door. She looks back to Spike.
"…We can
still help you. We can still fix you."
Trista smiles at him
sadly and caresses the side of his face affectionately. She whispers
with love, "Sure we can."
She then rears back her hand that
was caressing him and balls it into a fist. Before he can react, she
decks him. She then rises quickly into a run towards the door.
"TRISTA!"
Spike rises and chases after her. She flings
open the door and runs into the sunlight outside. She runs her hands
through her hair and looks up at the sky and spins around. It's as if
she hasn't seen the sun in years. Spike can still feel her heart
beat…
Bumpbumpbumpbumpbumpbu--
She locks eyes with him and
then bursts into flame. It's over in an instant. Spike stares at the
pile of ash that used to be Trista. He falls to the ground in utter
despair.
It's been a year. Giles,
Buffy, Faith, Willow, Xander, Andrew, Spike, Lorne and Chloe are all
gathered in the warehouse where Trista died. There's a table set up
with food and drinks and there're chairs for everyone and a stereo.
It's a party.
"Would anyone like to say a few words?" Chloe
asks.
"Well, I suppose, I'd like to say that," begins Giles,
"Trista was a good person, and, clearly a hero."
"Here,
here!" says Xander and drinks. They all raise their drinks in
toast.
Lorne stands and says, "Just a few words for my dear
departed. I loved Trista like family and while it's a sad occasion to
loose her, I pray that her sacrifice is enough to get her a one way
ticket to Elysium."Everyone raises their glasses again.
"I'd
like to speak," says Andrew.
"Take it away, Andy," says
Buffy.
Andrew clears his throat overdramatically and begins,
"Trista, a unique being with a heavy heart, was driven by love and
heroism to make a fatal mistake that will later. Cost. Her.
Life--"
He's cut off by a roll being thrown at his head. Chloe
looks at the ceiling innocently. He goes from orator to whiner, "I'm
up all night writing this speech and what do I get?"
"A
stunning lack of appreciation?" asks Buffy.
"A suck audience?"
asks Faith.
"Syphilis?" asks Chloe.
"I had that," pipes
up Xander.
"That was funny," says Willow playfully.
"Oh,
that's right," says Xander sarcastically, "It was the funny
syphilis."
"Sure was," says Buffy.
"What do you guys
say we put on some music? I have Trista's favorite CD…" begins
Chloe.
"Oh, wait. One more thing," begins Willow, "Let's
just," she indicates one last toast. Everyone understands and
stands to face where Trista's ashes used to be and all say, with the
exception of Spike, who stays sitting and barely raises his beer,
"Happy Life Day, Trista!"
Chloe then clicks on the stereo. "If
I Ever Leave This World Alive" by Flogging Molly plays.
If
I ever leave this world alive
I'll thank for all the things you
did in my life
If I ever leave this world alive
I'll come back
down and sit beside your
feet tonight
Wherever I am you'll
always be
More than just a memory
If I ever leave this world
alive
Willow and Xander get up and start dancing. Chloe, Andrew and Buffy join in. Giles, Faith and Spike sit off to the side. Spike sits sadly withdrawn from the group. He never really made peace with what happened. He'll never really know if she's okay.
If
I ever leave this world alive
I'll take on all the sadness
That
I left behind
If I ever leave this world aliveThe madness that you
feel will soon subside
So in a word don't shed a tear
I'll be
here when it all gets weird
If I ever leave this world
alive
Suddenly, Spike looks around shocked. People appeared out of nowhere. But, no… they're not just people. He looks to where everyone was dancing and sees Tara smiling and watching over Willow. And Spike sees Anya. She smiles at Xander as he talks to Willow and puts her hand on his shoulder. Joyce Summers brushes hair out of Buffy's eyes. They're all there. Gunn, Wesley and Fred together, Angel and Cordelia, Sam, Doyle. They look at their loved ones and smile and laugh with each other. Wes and Fred dance together, doing a spazzy version of the Waltz.
So when in
doubt just call my name
Just before you go insane
Spike looks over to Giles and sees Jenny Calendar with her arm draped around Giles's shoulders. She smiles at Spike. It's clear that no one can seem them but him. Nonetheless, there's a general feeling of warmth and mirth in everyone.
If I ever leave this
world
Hey I may never leave this world
But if I ever leave this
world alive
Spike looks over towards Xander as he moves out of the way, revealing Trista. She stands there, smiling at him. She makes no attempt to move towards him.
She says…
She smiles wide and mouths along with the lyrics.
…I'm okay;
I'm alright,
Though you have gone from my life
You said that it
would,
Now everything should be all right
Someone passing in front of her obstructs his vision of her and when he has the opportunity see her again, she's gone.
She
says I'm okay; I'm alright,
Though you have gone from my life
You
said that it would,
Now everything should be all right
Yeah
should be alright
Spike looks reflectively at where she was and he smiles.
The End.
